Merry Christmas.. Don't buy Guinness..

Something seasonal from Yuilly and a much love and festive cheer from little ol' me at Pop Cultureddd!

The suggestion to refrain from purchasing Guinness is to counteract the quite overt nature of the video. Other alcoholic beverages are just as good. Mine's a Boddington's if anyone's buying.

You know the 'Best of the previous 12 months' thing makes me bork...

I don't get the constant need to review and mark the passage of time specifically in December by being nostalgic for the music of the past 365 days and gazing optimistically into the future with predictions of more music to come in the next 365 days that might just make everything alright.

But if you are going to press me on it then I might do my usual cop-out, I'm not doing a list or a chart rundown of singles, videos or anything like that. It is more likely to be experiences or general moments that resonated with me.

So just give me a moment, okay Blogsphere?!

Here is something old and not from this year to fuck you off.

This is simply due to an old post of mine that I read, from when I used to write well, and while the track and this video (without the amazing Mark Heap) still reflects the inside of my head, I am better off and happier in one particular way.

a whole lot of balls from Rui Madeira on Vimeo.

Thank you.

When capitalism exposes itself...

Whilst Nicki Minaj might be packing abnormally exciting amounts of arse (that's right, we don't say 'ass' at Pop Cultureddd, we say 'arse') and making it look outrageously good, the blatant brand pushing of her latest "collaboration" has left me feeling decidedly less enthused.

Of late Nicki Minaj has become a hip-hip and r'n'b sensation both here in the UK and more internationally. And whilst the powers of corporate promotion have largely become acceptable there are glimpses of its inner workings that are just too ugly to allow to go unnoticed. A bit like when there was a near moral panic over the X Factor auditions being (or not being) auto-tuned. Or when once great bands who stated several years back that they would only reunite for a sizable sum of cash then have all recently started to reunite. Or when you put accidentally put on Radio 1.

Well, Nicki Minaj had done this song with will.i.am -- which is obviously awful in and of itself because he is a member of the Black Eyed Peas, who will stop at nothing to ruin chart pop music and every possible encounter you may have with a popular shop/club/bar/television programme/fragrance/anything that might make them money -- they realised a video for this song. I somehow found myself watching nearly all of it despite the presence of will.i.am. I didn't particularly enjoy any of it. In fact, I had what a questionnaire might categorise as a 'strong dislike' for it.

After some time I felt like I could have forgave Nicki Minaj for this sin.

Then I saw that rather uncouthly the video has been re-released and now also featured Cheryl Cole. But how do you re-release a video, you might be wondering? Well essentially you have Cheryl stand in front of a green-blue-who-cares-what-colour screen and jiggle about and then place those shots into the video. You might even get her to record some vocals singing over the top of will.i.am.

Original video:



Re-released video:



Regardless of whether this is a 'remix'. It is a sickening attempt to further exploit the fanbases of the requisite artists involved. Reportedly Cheryl is attempting to establish herself in the US to go and pedal her brand there and no doubt Nicki Minaj would love to gain a few of her Peoples' Princess fanbase here in the UK.

It is all a bit too painfully obvious. Where is the illusion? Smoke and mirrors? The magic of consumer capitalism has failed quite spectacularly here.

And do you know what annoys me the most? Nicki has several changes of outfit throughout the video, as is the expectation of any music video in the 21st century. However, the best Cheryl can muster is a pair of sunglasses for a few frames of the video! Wardrobe fail!

LCTRISC

I'm shit at leaving notes for myself to blogs about particular artists. Utter shite. But despite another weird name LCTRISC are very not shit. In fact, this track of theirs is brilliant. And the video is worth a watch too. It reminds me of this. I'm a loser. But LCTRISC aren't! The Swedes are bloody great. Love Last Kiss.

Last Kiss by LCTRISC

LCTRISC - Last Kiss (Official Music Video) from johan stolpe on Vimeo.

Jamie Woon

Dubstep singer-songwriter? Yes please.

Every aspect of this excites me. Jamie Woon may not be reinventing the wheel -- no, Burial did that for us -- but he is certainly doing something very fresh and, in my opinion, bold.

So be sure to keep an eye open on music sites and newspapers like The Guardian that get very excited this time of year by 'hotly' tipping who will be big next year, effectively ruining the careers of those they are trying to big up. Who really wants only Guardian readers at your gigs? Not even I would enjoy that!

Spiral by woon

Jamie Woon - "Night Air" from lorenzo fonda on Vimeo.

Ghost Eyes

When we went to see Gold Panda at The Cut in Newcastle two weeks ago I was pretty taken aback by the whole evening.

The venue was odd to start with. Odd in an intriguing and kind of good way. It is supposed to look like a dilapidated warehouse/falling apart apartment block. Which whilst it had its charms, like the strip lights in the ceiling and interspersed between half formed stairs coming through the ceiling, which looked great when dim and acts were playing. I didn't understand the tables submerged into the floor. But a very cool little place. If it got more gigs like this I would be definitely going back. There is nothing worse when you really look forward to a gig only for the venue to be rubbish and spoil it.

Anyway, the real purpose of this post is to share the first support act. I'd suspected that there was two support acts, only to be told I was wrong by one of the people involved with the night, got there and there was two support acts. The Boys both sighed and agreed that they were fools and that I am always right. It is quite often the case this happens. And bloody hell, I wish I'd have been more prepared. I had a drink in hand and parka in a ball by my feet. Ghost Eyes seemed to rather coyly introduce themselves, no particular expectations, then proceeded to explode the club! And I mean explode. Various different looks were exchanged, but I failed to see anyone looking at their gig buddies with anything less than a particularly impressed face. The sound quality when they nearly killed us with bass was fantastic. Executed with perfection. It would have been an favourable way to have slipped into the afterlife/black hole for eternity.

For a band that only have only 11 followers on SoundCloud they really are very convincing and fully-fledged. I can only see them improving. But it was their live performance that was so amazing I just had to talk them up! There recorded stuff is good, but if you get the chance to see them live, I seriously recommend it! They have an upcoming gig in London that sees them on the same line-up as the almighty Matthew Dear.

Here is a track of theirs:

Kill Friends by Ghost-Eyes

Oh, and yes, obviously Gold Panda was amazing. I saw him kicking around for ages before he went on and wanted to say something. But I literally had nothing to say that wouldn't have embarrassed me or him. At least one of us would have blushed.

Funeral Fireworks

Funeral Fireworks -- what to say? I genuinely am unsure as to how I stumbled across this artist. But it probably occurred after yet another long stint browsing SoundCloud whilst ploughing through several journal articles. And immediately I was completely enthralled. Melodically complex in certain points but still retains an endearing naivety.

The Light Shines On Your Face by funeral fireworks

Untitled by funeral fireworks

Future Shocked by funeral fireworks